Personal injury lawyer interests spent over $2,000,000 to try and elect Judges and Justices during the 2024 election in West Virginia, according to research done by West Virginia Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse. Candidates for Circuit Court took the majority of those dollars by accepting $1,449,000 directly from personal injury lawyers.
A total of $117,000 was contributed by personal injury lawyer interests to candidates for State Supreme Court and $90,000 for the Intermediate Appellate Court. Kanawha County candidates received far more than candidates from any other region of the state—Circuit Court candidates accepted $608,000 directly from personal injury lawyers, while another $500,000+ was spent on an independent expenditure effort to elect their candidates for positions in the Kanawha County Courthouse.
“West Virginia’s Judiciary is for sale, and everyone knows it,” said Greg Thomas, executive director of West Virginia Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse. “There is no doubt that the personal injury lawsuit industry is the biggest spending special interest group in the state. They bought their local county courthouses in 2024, and now they are trying to buy the State Senate.”
Personal injury lawyers are already giving big in State Senate elections, having given $28,000 to State Senator Laura Chapman at a fundraiser in Charleston in June. Senator Chapman is the first legislator to have a personal injury lawyer fundraiser in Charleston, but Senator Tom Willis had one on September 8th here in Charleston. Surely the first couple of many to come before the next election.
West Virginia Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse will provide an update after the next campaign finance reports are submitted in early October.
“Voters who want to see West Virginia get more jobs, build a better infrastructure, and see improved access to affordable healthcare need to carefully observe who is funding their legislative candidates in the upcoming election. If liberal personal injury lawyers from Charleston are the main donors to your local “conservative” State Senator, then maybe they aren’t quite as conservative as you think. The 2026 election is the time to tell the greedy personal injury lawyers that West Virginia is not for sale,” said Thomas.
